iMAC DV/SE

"Announced in July 2000, the iMac DV SE (Summer 2000) built on the runaway success of the iMac DV SE. The processor speed was raised to 500 MHz, the hard drive more than doubled to 30 GB, and it was available in a new color, snow. The iMac DV SE 2000 shipped with 128 MB of RAM, a 56 kbps modem, and Apple's Pro Mouse. It was available in either Graphite or Snow, and cost $1,499." (photo credits: Apple Computer)

"Announced in October 1999, the iMac DV was a major jump forward in Apple's consumer strategy. Along with all the new features added to the iMac (Slot Loading), the DV also included a DVD-ROM drive, a larger hard drive, two FireWire ports (a consumer first), and a VGA out. The iMac DV was convection cooled, and as a result needed no internal fan, making it the quietest Mac since the 512k. The base model iMac DV came in five candy colors, with 64 MB of RAM, a 10 GB ATA drive, for $1,299. A "special edition" was also available in Graphite, with 128 MB of RAM, and a 13 GB drive, for $1,499." (photo credits: Apple Computer)

{fig.1} the road: en route to verde river
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{05•18•06} passageway
spun with tears

iMAC (Slot Loading)

"Announced in October 1999, the iMac (Slot Loading) was the low end of a new "good, better, best" iMac product strategy from Apple. The iMac SL built on the success of the Rev. D iMacs, adding a faster processor, more RAM (64 MB base), a better graphics sub-system, an improved speaker system, and a slot-loading CD-ROM drive. With all these new features, the iMac SL was still $200 cheaper than its predecessor. At $999, the blueberry-only iMac SL was the cheapest Apple-branded machine in many years." (photo credits: Apple Computer)

I read a lot of articles and a lot of blogs. I also happen to read a lot of helpful articles on blogging and possibly, just as many blogs with helpful articles on the importance of backing up. So I do that. Thankfully. I make a point of backing up my blog, because I had one near miss once and never want to feel that utter panic and horrible, agonizing regret of not having done something that's so easy to do if only you just make the point of doing it.
Again, just today and quite unexpectedly, I had another weird blog mishap. Not sure what it was, and I can't even begin to guess, but my blog was... invisible. It was like it just wasn't there. It was... and it wasn't. But because I backup my own blog, it is altogether intact right now. And I feel relief. Complete and utter relief. And I'm really, really happy that I read so many articles and blogs, and articles on blogging, and blogs with helpful articles like the importance of backing up. You should backup your own blog, or BYOB, too. It's just too (phew!) good.

"Announced in September 1999, alongside the Power Mac G4 (PCI Graphics), the Power Mac G4 (AGP Graphics) was a major revision of the Power Mac line. Based on the Unified Motherboard Architecture, the G4 AGP was built around the MPC 7400 chip, which was dramatically faster than its predecessor, the PPC 750. The G4 AGP introduced a number of performance improvements, including AGP-based graphics, AirPort compatibility, a faster memory bus, DVD-ROM or RAM standard, an internal FireWire port, 2 separate USB buses for a combined 24 Mbs, a 2X (133 MHz) AGP slot, and up to 1.5 GB of RAM. The G4 AGP also introduced the new professional color, Graphite. The G4 AGP started at $2,499 for the 450 MHz configuration with a 20 GB hard drive and 128 MB of RAM, and $3,499 for the 500 MHz configuration with a 27 GB hard drive and 256 MB or RAM (both included internal Zip drives). There were extreme supply issues with the G4 initially, due largely to Motorola's inability to deliver the 7400 chips in adequate supply. This was further compounded by an "errata" in the initial revision of the 7400 that effectively lowered the ceiling of the chip to 450 MHz. As a result, all models of the G4 were speed-bumped in October. The $2,499 450 MHz model was lowered in speed to 400 MHz, and the $3,499 500 MHz model was lowered to 450 MHz. The price and all other specs were the same. Not a single first-run G4/500 shipped, and very few $2,499 G4/450s ever made it to the channel. Orders placed before the speed reduction were honored, with the exception of the 500 MHz orders, which were filled with 450 MHz models with more memory. A 350 MHz configuration was subsequently added to replace the similar G4 (PCI Graphics) configuration a month later, and the whole line was speed-bumped back up to 400/450/500 in February 2000." (photo credits: Apple Computer)

This byte of Apple's history from Wired's, "30 Years of Apple Products."

If I say "Olive The Other Reindeer" and you immediately get images of a funky, squarish, big-eyed reindeer, then you already know the work of J. Otto Seibold. I became familiar with his work several years ago, when I came across the coolest orange wirebound address book, featuring a funky, squarish, big-eyed white dog called Mr. Lunch (pictured above). There were incredibily cool & colourful illustrations riddled throughout, and despite the price tag, I snatched it up immediately. I didn't even NEED an address book -- I just loved Mr. Lunch! Now this site may not look like much upon landing on the home page, but click around, get to know Olive, Mr. Lunch, Space Monkey and Seibold's other fantabulous characters, and you'll be sure to stumble on some good-lookin-fun along the way!

"Although it shares the name of its predecessor, the "Blue" PowerMac G3 is an altogether different animal. Sporting an all new translucent "easy-open" case design (code named "El-Capitan"), the new G3 was the first Apple model to support FireWire, Apple's new high-speed serial standard. It was also the first professional model to include USB, although it also came with a "legacy" ADB port for backwards compatibility. In a controversial move, Apple chose not to include standard serial ports, a floppy drive, or on-board SCSI (Apple instead chose Ultra ATA). An internal Zip was available, however, as were SCSI expansion cards. The G3 was available in a number of configurations, starting at $1599, and rounding out near $5000 for the fully loaded server configuration. In late April, the "Blue" line was speed-bumped by 50 MHz, bringing the high-end model to 450 MHz." (picture credits: Apple Computer)

I've have always fantasized about being a children's book author. On trips to the bookstore, even at 30-something with no kids, I will peruse the children's section, admiring their bright, imaginative covers, humourous titles, and quirkily illustrated characters. And if I were to fulfill this dream, it would be one of two distinct styles of children's books I would model my own after: it would either rhyme and have the fun, sing-songy cadence of Seuss and be colourfully illustrated by someone with a style along the lines of J. Otto Seibold or Johnny Yanock, OR it would be somewhat darker, imbued with overt themes of good and evil, (a la Edward Gorey), imparting valuable life lessons, and illustrated by someone with the style of say, Brett Helquist.

I read children's books still. Like the Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket books, for example. I find them positively captivating, brimming with imagination. Recently, when I worked with a group of preschool-aged children, instead of reading them just 1 book before nap time, I would indulge them (and myself obviously), with 2 or 3 instead. They thought they were talking me into it - but I looked forward to that time of the day. The Sneetches, Green Eggs & Ham, and Stellaluna had to of been our favourites.

Some of my favourite books of all time are the books I read as a child: Charlotte's Web, Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, Alice In Wonderland, A Christmas Carol, The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe, Peter Pan, and The Snow Queen to name but a few. Of course there are the staple authors that I read anything and everything by, too, like Dr. Seuss, A.A. Milne, and Beatrix Potter. And when a friend or relative has a baby, I often give The Complete Tales of Winnie The Pooh or The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter as a gift.

I definitely get my love of reading from my mother. When she was young, her birthday and Christmas presents were often books. She read through them voraciously, saving many of them into adulthood. What a treat for me as a child, to crack open a Donna Parker or Trixie Belden book, and to see it inscribed: "To Lois... X-mas '62, from your sisters," "To Lois... from Santa, 1957," or "To Lois... from your Parents - don't read all the time!" Seemingly strange advice from parents, I know, but whenever she received a new book, she would disappear and not emerge again until it had been read cover to cover... usually later that same day. Then she'd anxiously want to know when she could get another one. I guess my grandparents just couldn't keep up with the demand! I enjoyed reading her old books, very much. It was exciting for me to know that I was reading something that she had read at my age, and experiencing exactly what she had experienced with each turn of the page. The book would take on a romantic, almost magical status for me.

I used to sit on a small chair in my bedroom, and turn my book toward an imaginary cluster of rapt students, and read story after story aloud to them (and believe me, the practice came in handy for when the time came later in life to do so!) I loved to collect books, just as my mother had, and saved each one when I was done so that I could re-read them over and over again. They seemed like best friends to me once I was through. I felt so appreciative of the journey they had taken me on, all the wondrous things they'd shared with (seemingly) just me. And like my mother, I spent so much time with my books, that my dad, as a special surprise, built me a bookcase for my room so that I could house them all neatly and keep them from harm. I remember taking great pride in organizing them on their shelves, re-arranging them by style or by author, or alphabetically, depending on my mood.

Some of those books I have even now, and I pull them out from time to time to re-read them: my copy of Charlotte's Web that I got in public school (my mother's favourite book, too); my copy of A Christmas Carol (that I... erm... "forgot" to return to my school library); a dog-eared, very well loved copy of Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, and My Donna Parker hard covers that my grandparents gave to me, just as they had given to my mother before me ("To April... from Nanny & Pops, 1980"). They didn't write: "Don't read all the time!" in mine though - probably because they realized the 2nd time around that it was of no use to say so.

I will likely always play with the idea of one day writing a children's book. And I will always, most certainly, keep my old favourites around. They still are such a pleasure for me to read and remind me of what it was like to experience them for the first time. I could never get rid of them. It's unfathomable to discard old friends.

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